


It all started with a full moon...

by Mariana_Monteverde



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: A little fluffy, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Single Father Arthur, Single Father Lucius, Sleepovers, The Burrow (Harry Potter), Werewolves, they took control of the story, werewolf lucius
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:35:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29958987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mariana_Monteverde/pseuds/Mariana_Monteverde
Summary: Arthur is alone, taking care of his children. It all changes when another single father needs help...
Relationships: Lucius Malfoy/Arthur Weasley
Comments: 5
Kudos: 19
Collections: Midnight Moonrise Fest 2021





	It all started with a full moon...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheUltimateUndesirable](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheUltimateUndesirable/gifts).



> Here it is! 
> 
> My first Arthurcius! And they will be back, because the scene that I had first on my mind when I started this never appeared! So I must write it later. Ooops!
> 
> Prompt: The Burrow

When Arthur married Molly, 10 years before, fresh out of Hogwarts, he never thought his life would end up like this. Not without the pretty mother of his three children, but when her siblings had died, she had promised revenge, and abandoned her family, joining the Order, and getting killed, just a couple of weeks later. 

And now, he was alone with three young boys. He took a couple of weeks of paternity leave after Percy was born, and extended it once Molly left, but after four months and the holidays, he needed to go back to work. 

His mother had told him to come back to the ancestral Weasley Home in Carlisle, that she would help with the children now that he was a widow. But this was his home, and his children’s home. Percy would not feel the change, but the older two would, and Arthur couldn’t do that.

When Pandora Lovegood offered to look after the children while he was at the Ministry, free of costs, the Lovegood’s only asked for access to some of the plants that grew in the Burrow grounds, Arthur had said thank you very much. They had been a Merlinsend, and he would never be able to repay them.

On a Thursday, the 23rd of January, when Arthur knocked on the door of the strangely shaped Lovegood cottage, the door was ajar, and it opened even more under his touch. The Gryffindor was taken back by the sight in front of him, Pandora was talking with a wizard, but it wasn’t just any wizard, it was Lucius Malfoy. And he was holding a little girl in his arms, almost as platinum blond as him. 

“Pandora? What do you mean you can’t keep Cassie tonight?” The other man asked, and there was desperation in his voice.

“Luci, I’m sorry. Xeno says this is the perfect night to look for the Crumple-Horned Snorkac, the first full moon of the month, he wants me to come with him. We have a portkey leaving for Sweden soon.” Pandora explained.

“He doesn’t want you to come with him, you want to go and harvest that silly Swedish flower you have been looking for,” Malfoy said. And Arthur reached for his wand, just in case the other man became violent, not that he thought the Malfoy would hurt Pandora Lovegood, they seem too friendly with each other, too at ease. The blonde woman hand a wand on Lucius’s elbow.

“It’s not a silly flower, it’s the Fjäll-Alpine månsken-butterwort, it’s only found there, and the healing properties are supposed to be- Oh, hello, Arthur. I didn’t see you there.” Pandora said beckoning him inside. “The boys are outside with Xenophilius. He charmed the dirigible plums and they’re watching the race.” 

“Thank you, so you won’t be able to watch the children tomorrow either? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop…” Arthur asked, a blush appearing on his freckled face.

“Don’t worry, Xenophilius and I will be back in the morning to take Bill, Charlie and Percy. And Cassie here, if you want to bring her in the morning, Luci.” She said with a dreamy smile, charming a little frog to jump out of the window.

“I want to spend the day with Auntie Pandy!” The young girl finally said, throwing herself out of Lucius Malfoy arms and into Pandora Lovegood’s. Aunt… And something clicked inside Arthur’s brain, and the resemblance, on the colour of their hair, the colour of their eyes and the shape of their noses. Siblings. Pandora was Lucius’ sister.

“I will make pancakes for lunch.” Pandora whispered “Oh, I totally forgot. I’m not sure if the two of you know each other, but Luci, this is Arthur Weasley. Arthur, this is my big brother, Lucius Malfoy and my niece.” 

“Weasley,” Lucius said, with a surprising polite head nod.

“Malfoy, I didn’t know you had a daughter,” Arthur confessed, if he was being honest, he had read less and less about Lucius Malfoy in the Prophet. The last time he saw the man’s name on the front pages of the newspaper was the announcement of his wedding. He thought the man was a sympathizer of the people who killed his wife and his brothers-in-law and so many others. But if he was in Pandora’s home, that meant that he was not a monster. _Right?_

“Oh, so you two know each other?” Pandora asked just like Xenophilius, walked inside the cottage, carrying baby Percy in his arms, and followed by Bill and Charlie.

“From school, Pandy. Weasley was a couple of years older.” Lucius explained. “And yes, Cassie is three and a half. We don’t leave the Manor very often.”

“Hi!” Cassie waved in the other children direction and Pandora put her down, letting Lucius and Arthur talk between themselves. 

“Cassie, these are Bill, Charlie and baby Percy. I look after them while Arthur goes to work. And Arthur is my neighbour. He lives in the house on the other side of the fence.” Pandora explained. 

“And your wife?” Arthur asked. Lucius gulped and Pandora quickly took all of the children to the kitchen with the promise of a slice of cake. “I’m sorry, that was not the right thing to ask. I lost Molly in October, even if she had left us before that. And I’m not sure why I’m telling you that… I apologize.” 

“Narcissa perished almost three years ago. Cassie doesn’t remember her, she thinks her mother is travelling the world, and I keep feeding the tale however I can.” He explained. “Do your boys know about their mother?” 

“I told Bill and Charlie before Christmas, that their mother wasn’t coming back… we cried together and they’re mourning their loss. I think they will understand better when they’re a little older. Or I hope.” Arthur said and then he looked at Lucius left forearm. “She died while… duelling, on the Midlands.”

“I know my word might not mean much, but I assure you I’m no longer affiliated with them. I’m sorry for your loss.” Lucius added, eyes locked on the door that lead to the kitchen. “Now, I must go, I need to find somewhere for Cassiopeia to stay the night.” 

“Why can’t you keep her?”

Lucius looked at Arthur, from the top of his hair to the bottom of his shoes. And the Gryffindor felt the need to later polishing his shoes. “Have you by any chance looked at the lunar calendar today, Weasley?”

“It’s a full moon,” Arthur whispered, it was an old habit, his mother would never let them leave the house without knowing how the moon would stand that night. 

Lucius nodded. “Indeed.” He said, like that explained everything, it took a few seconds for Arthur to understand what was happening. 

“No… It can’t be… You can’t possibly be…” 

“It’s an old family curse. It was triggered when Cassiopeia was conceived. Like what happened to my father with Pandora.” Lucius explained.

“So Pandora is also a… a werewolf?” Arthur asked, his eyes moving across the room to the kitchen, hearing the loud cackles coming from there, voices muffled from mouths filled with cake.

“No… none of the females in the Malfoy family are afflicted by Lycanthropy. So now that you know, I must go… maybe Andro-” 

“I know we barely know each other, but I can keep your daughter for the night. I know my home is not fancy as your manor must be, but it’s an old Weasley property, and I check the wards daily since the war started.” Arthur explained. “I have three children already with me, one more for the night will be no trouble.”

He was not sure what came over him to propose that, to offer to help Lucius Malfoy, almighty pureblood Slytherin prince, well, maybe King now, but he did. He just wanted to protect his child, and Arthur could connect with that.

Lucius sighed. “I don’t appreciate being in your dept, Weasley, but in desperate times, desperate measures. Pandora! Stop feeding my child sweets that she knows she’s not allowed at this time of the day and bring her here!” 

There was another round of giggles, before soon Pandora, Xenophilius, Lucius’ daughter and his own children appeared in the sitting room. Bill was still trying to brush away the chocolate cake crumbs that were covering Charlie’s t-shirt.

“Daddy, Daddy!” The blonde child threw herself into Lucius’ arms. “Uncle Xennie says that Charlie and I will be in Hogwarts together! And Charlie says he has a book about dragons at his home!”

Lucius’ face crumpled like it was one of his worst nightmares, and Arthur just wanted to laugh. “Would you like to see Charlie’s book?” The Weasley patriarch asked.

“Can we? Please, daddy? Please?” She asked, squeezing Lucius’ cheeks between her little hands. 

Lucius nodded, planting a kiss on her nose. “Of course, dearest.”

That’s how their arrangement started. From that moment forward, every full moon Cassie stayed in the Burrow, and every morning, a tired Lucius appeared with a fancy breakfast for all of them. And then sometimes instead of taking the children to spend the day at Pandora’s place, Lucius would keep the children and take care of them, spoil them. And sometimes Lucius would not leave for the night and he and Arthur would fall asleep on the couch, together.

Arthur still could remember the first time he asked the Slytherin to stay the night, it was raining, one of those June downpours that no one knows where they come from. 

“Lucius… Cassie is sleeping so well, don’t stir her slumber.” Arthur said, cradling his glass of elf-wine. 

“That’s because Cassie is tucked in a comfortable bed, sharing a room with one of your ginger head children. I swear her hair is turning strawberry blonde from all the time she spends here.” Lucius chuckled. “But that couch of yours is terrible and my back is starting to complain. I’m not getting any younger…”

“I have a bed…” Arthur murmured, his eyes locked on the table and not on the man in front of him. 

He loved all those mornings when he woke beside Lucius, how his face was just so gentle, so opposite to the look he was giving him now, a raised eyebrow, lips closed in a harsh line. “I mean… as friends… we could enlarge it, even if it’s not that small, or we could duplicate it… or conjure a new one, or transfigure something… or I could take the couch and you could have the bed.” 

Arthur was rambling, but he just couldn’t stop. “I don’t want you to leave.” He finally confessed and looked at Lucius’ face, expecting to find repulsion, but he was smiling. 

“Lead the way, Arthur. I will be expecting breakfast when I wake up.” He teased, raising his wand, and sending their glasses to the sink.

Arthur got up on a jump, almost running up the stairs. He looked back to see Lucius in the middle of the sitting room, looking between the stairs and fireplace. Arthur sighed, he knew that the Slytherin couldn’t really want to spend the night at the Burrow. The Gryffindor tried to keep his expression blank, to put a mask on like he had seen Lucius make multiple times.

“On a second thought…”

“Just go, Lucius. You don’t need to stay. Cassiopeia will be okay, it’s not her first sleepover at the Burrow, and it won’t be her last.” Arthur said, turning his back on the blond. 

The Weasley Patriarch then felt a hand on his back. “So easy to jump to conclusions, Arthur. I wanted to just get some pyjamas, but since you don’t want me to leave not even for a minute, I will just need to sleep on my underwear. If that’s okay with you?”

Arthur blushed, not trusting himself into what could happen if he looked into those grey eyes. “I’m… I’m okay with it. I… I usually sleep naked in the summer.” 

“Oh, Weasley, Weasley, Weasley. Aren’t you full of surprises?” He chuckled.

“Shhh” The red-haired man turned as fast as a snitch, placing a finger over the other man’s lips. “You will wake up the children.” 

Lucius grinned. “Let’s just hope Pandora can keep them tomorrow then… so we can be a little louder.” Arthur’s mouth dropped open at his words. He couldn’t possibly mean anything by it, could he? “You’re so easy to rile up, Arthur. Let’s see how comfortable that bed of yours truly is. I require a nice night of sleep.” 

“Okay… we can do that,” Arthur took Lucius hand and lead him to his room. 


End file.
